 | Using a model of a human spine, Dr. Manohar Panjabi indicates where the M-BraceTM would be implanted. |
Applied Spine Technologies (AST), an emerging surgical implant company, has received $15 million in venture capital to commercialize a technology developed at Yale: the M-Brace™ System, a stabilization device that supports the spine while preserving motion and flexibility.
M-Brace™, invented at Yale to address chronic low back pain, is a minimally invasive surgical implant procedure designed to maintain normal spine motion and disc function. It uses traditional screw anchors to the bone, but attaches them to a novel mechanism with flexible joints.
The implant acts like a shock absorber for the spinal column. It has the potential to prevent or slow adjacent segment disease, and is expected to offer numerous advantages over current spinal fixation products including the new artificial disc products. In addition, it is expected that patients treated with M-Brace™ can go on to receive fusion surgery or artificial disc replacement, if necessary.
AST, located in the technology incubator at 300 George St. in New Haven, was founded in February 2004 by Dr. Manohar Panjabi, professor of orthopedics and rehabilitation and of mechanical engineering at Yale. Panjabi is one of the world's leading authorities on spine biomechanics.
"Less invasive solutions like M-Brace™ will encourage many patients -- who previously lived with their pain -- to opt for one of these more conservative surgical solutions," says Thomas E. Wood, president and chief executive officer of AST.
Jon Soderstrom, managing director of Yale's Office of Cooperative Research, notes: "Given Yale's mission to translate academic research into products that improve the health and prosperity of the global community, we are delighted that Applied Spine Technologies has been able to secure additional financing to fast-forward commercialization of its novel M-Brace™ System."
The Series 'B' round of financing investors were InterWest Partners (www.interwest.com) and De Novo Ventures (www.denovovc.com). InterWest Partners principal, Ellen Koskinas, joins the AST board of directors, effective immediately. AST's board of directors also includes Jeffrey T. Barnes, general partner, Oxford Bioscience Partners; Marc Goldberg, general partner, BioVentures Investors; Soderstrom; and Wood.
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